


Future Plan

by sinkauli



Category: Poirot - Agatha Christie
Genre: Boarding School, Epistolary, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:47:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29309814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinkauli/pseuds/sinkauli
Summary: Even Meadowbank can be outgrown, but Julia is growing into something more.
Relationships: Julia Upjohn & Jennifer Sutcliffe, Julia Upjohn & Mrs Upjohn
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Future Plan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/gifts).



Dear Mummy,

Miss Rich made us write verse using all the letters in the alphabet except the letter between 'n' and 'p'. When a girl gets that habit ceasing it is hard. It was excellent writing practice. And ripping fun as well!

But now I'll use the whole alphabet again because I'm not writing to Miss Rich, I'm writing to you! I wrote a poem about spring flowers. I couldn't call them snowdrops or crocuses or daffodils or even flowers, of course, so I found lots of synonyms like gilded flags and creamy eyes. And Miss Rich praised me for my creativity!

That's not the news I want to tell you, though, the news is that I'm a prefect now! That's because Meroe's father came and took her away to ~~Azure Basin~~ Azerbaijan, to learn to be an archaeologist like he is, and then we needed a new prefect and everybody said they wanted me. Now I'm prefect _and_ editor of the school paper. Next term when I'm busy with exams I'll hand over the school paper to Héloïse, and that's going to be interesting because it probably means that some of it will be in French! That'll teach the little ones who don't do their French revision. Mademoiselle Binart will be so pleased.

We had Careers Advice Day last week but I have already decided on a career. I want to be an investigative journalist. That isn't _precisely_ what you are, is it? I want to write for newspapers and magazines and really get to the bottom of things. Miss Rich says that I have the writing talent for it and she could get me a scholarship for Oxford or Cambridge if you agree, would you please write to her and say you agree? I really want to go to university, and when I pass my exams I'll be ready for it. I'm not saying 'if'! The only thing I might do badly in is Physics. I've even improved my maths beyond belief because Pamela has been tutoring me. Isn't it strange that Pamela and Clarissa are identical twins, and Pamela is smashing at maths while Clarissa can barely add up numbers over ten? But Clarissa is wizard at Latin and German so I suppose that makes up for it.

Are you coming on Parents' Day or will you be somewhere abroad again? If you're not coming I'll ask Aunt Isabel but if you are you can talk to Miss Bulstrode and Miss Rich about university yourself and you don't need to write a letter. Miss Bulstrode says she's retired but she's still around and I know she'll want to be in on it. Please, please do come if you can! I'm so looking forward to having a picnic with you and talking about everything!

Love from Julia

* * *

Dear Miss Rich and Miss Bulstrode,

Julia wrote to me asking if I agreed to your sponsoring her for an Oxford or Cambridge scholarship. Of course I agree! I'd be delighted for my daughter to have the best education possible in the field of her passion.

I shall be attending the next Parents' Day so we can schedule a meeting at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Harriet J. Upjohn

* * *

Dear Mrs Upjohn,

Regarding your letter of the 15th, we would be pleased to speak with you over a cup of coffee next Saturday at eleven o'clock in the Headmistress' Office. Julia may attend the latter part of the meeting.

Yours sincerely,

E. Rich, Headmistress  
H. Bulstrode, Emerita Headmistress  
Meadowbank School

* * *

Dear Jennifer,

I'm so excited! I'm going to Oxford in September! Mummy came on Parents' Day and she talked with Miss Rich and Miss Bulstrode for half an hour and then they called me in (I'd been kicking my heels on the sinners' bench all that time) and they told me I can get a scholarship and study English and History and Journalism. I just wish you were here so you could have come on the picnic with me and Mummy to celebrate with ginger beer and sandwiches and cake. Miss Bulstrode now signs letters along with Miss Rich, as "Emerita Headmistress", that means retired, but she's still sticking around and doing things, she doesn't know how to stop!

How is tennis in Switzerland? I miss you so much, I had to play the doubles with Pamela and we came fourth, she's pretty decent, but not by far as good as you. Are you learning excellent French now or is it all that strange kind of German that Heide-Marie speaks? Oh, you don't know Heide-Marie, of course, she was new this term when you were already away to Switzerland, but she's from there and she got Miss Goldberg frowning like anything because of her accent. She's nice, and very funny (Heide-Marie, not Miss Goldberg), and plays the violin beautifully, she wants to go to the Conservatory of Music when her English is good enough.

It's a secret and I'm not supposed to know it but I'm pretty sure that Mummy is having my emerald set in a pendant for my graduation and eighteenth birthday present. She had jewellers' pamphlets in her bag and she tried to prise out of me whether I liked gold or silver better. I don't know, I've never had any jewellery except the best-friends ring you gave me! But it might be nice to have a silver pendant to match that. Please write back and tell me everything about finishing school! I'll probably never get finished, there's so much else I want to do.

Love and hugs from Julia

**Author's Note:**

> I gave Mrs Upjohn a first name, named the Carlton-Sandways twins and invented a couple of new students and teachers. Miss Goldberg is likely to be a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.


End file.
